Iowa AEA Online: A great resource for Iowa’s students and families

Does your child have an endangered species project to complete? Reference information can be found in the Britannica School Online edition, a truly multimedia encyclopedia. Does your child need to create a presentation about a different culture? Try the resource, CultureGrams for an inside look at cultures around the world and within the United States. Or does your child want a photo of Derek Jeter? The resource, AP Images, will have many photo options that can be downloaded and used by your child for their learning. Does your child need a nonfiction book about volcanoes? The resource, TrueFLIX, has several eBook titles that can be read by the child and also includes an option for the book to be read aloud to the child. Area Education Agency 267 (AEA 267) offers all of these online resources and more to area students and educators served by the agency through a cooperative with all of Iowa’s Area Education Agencies. This statewide collaborative project provides no-cost access to 14 high-quality, web-based resources for all Iowa PreK-12 grade students and teachers and is known as Iowa AEA Online.

These electronic, across-the-curriculum resources allow all schools, regardless of financial or geographic constraints, to offer a “library without walls” that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from any Internet-accessible computer, at school or at home. Iowa AEA Online resources give your child access to a wealth of information for assignments, classroom projects, and personal interest.

Your child can access these online resources at www.iowaaeaonline.org using the username and password for their specific school building. To learn more, contact your local school teacher librarian or an AEA 267 media and technology consultant. (Remember, the license for these resources limits use to student and school related activities.)

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Cheryl Carruthers is a library media specialist and supervisor with Area Education Agency 267. She can be reached at ccarruthers@aea267.k12.ia.us